Red
by jordan parrish
Summary: "I feel this ache in my heart, like it longs for something I can't remember." When Vivian Carson — brainwashed and under the control of Hydra for the last 70 years — is assigned a mission that involves coming face to face with her past, she will fight to remember who she was and the soldier she fell in love with back in 1943. (Steve Rogers/Captain America)


_preface_

* * *

 **GIVEN NAME:** Vivian Rose Carson  
 **ALIAS(ES):** Valentina De Rosa, Red  
 **GENDER:** Female  
 **DATE OF BIRTH:** March 12th, 1920  
 **BIOLOGICAL AGE:** 23  
 **CHRONOLOGICAL AGE:** 93  
 **KNOWN RELATIVES:** Anastasia and Lawrence Carson (parents; deceased), Joseph Carson (brother; deceased)  
 **TREATMENT:** Series of serum injections, memory manipulation, psychological simulations, electroshock, prolonged periods of cryopreservation, extensive combat and weaponry training.  
 **SPECIAL SKILLS** : Genetically enhanced strength, reflexes, speed, stamina, and regenerative tissue. Excellent marksmanship, espionage, combat, and medicinal skills.  
 **MISSIONS COMPLETED:** 62  
 **ASSASSINATIONS ACCOUNTED FOR:** 54  
 **STATUS:** All-purpose agent of Hydra

Alexander Pierce spun around in his leather office chair and laid the red file down on the glass top of his desk. He unclipped a Polaroid photo of the woman from the side of the folder and relaxed back into his seat, lazily dragging his eyes over her features. She leaned against the counter of a bar, a drink in her hand and a strapless dress hugging her slender figure. Her blonde hair rested on her bare shoulders, looking soft and touchable. She had piercing blue eyes, high cheekbones, and full lips.

"She's quite beautiful," Alexander murmured absentmindedly.

"Yes," Baron Strucker agreed stoically. He stood before Alexander's desk with the posture of a soldier, hands held behind his back. "She certainly has used it to her advantage."

Alexander dropped the photo atop the rest of the papers and raised his gaze to Strucker. "Is she capable?"

"With all due respect, Mr. Pierce, she's faced matters of far more difficulty," he said. "Her file speaks for itself."

Alexander made a noncommittal sound and pushed aside her patient report to scan the small biography printed on the next page.

 _ **Description provided by Dr. Arnim Zola**_ **.**

He skimmed over the words and read farther down.

"It says here she was a nurse at Camp Lehigh," he said, glancing up at Strucker with skepticism. "That's the army base where Captain Rogers was stationed. Did she know him?"

"I wasn't around seventy years ago to ask," Baron began, "but even if she did, she'd have no recollection of it."

"How can you be sure?"

"When Hydra raided the base in 1943, she was knocked unconscious by a blast and suffered from amnesia when agents brought her back to Moscow," Strucker explained. "Then she went through numerous simulation tests, and electroshock treatments that caused damage to her amygdala, as it also states in her file."

"What's the current status of her memory?" Alexander questioned, shutting the folder. He had no interest in reading the rest of it. He didn't care to know her history or who she was in the past. She was Hydra now, her life before long forgotten, and all he needed to know was what she could do for him.

"Clean," Strucker answered automatically. "Wiped after each mission since 1954, as it says in her f—"

Pierce held up a hand, raising an intrigued eyebrow. "Why 1954?"

"There was an incident," Baron said curtly. He wasn't going to elaborate. It was no longer an issue.

"She's had a lot of missions," Alexander commented next.

Baron nodded. "More than any of the others, sir."

"I just want to make sure she's competent."

"I assure you, she is," Strucker said. "She's completed every mission assigned to her—no target or witness left alive if a hit was ordered."

Pierce pursed his lips as he debated. S.H.I.E.L.D. had to crumble, and this would be his first line of attack. "Okay," he conceded.

Baron touched his earpiece and murmured something in Russian.

The mahogany doors of Alexander's office opened a moment later and in strode the woman, dressed in a burgundy cat suit accessorized with a dozen little trinkets that probably had a lethal function despite their size. Her hair was much longer than it was in the picture, wavy and flowing over her shoulders, but everything else about her was the same.

He glanced down at date scribbled on the Polaroid.

 _ **1945.**_

He shook his head discreetly. He couldn't wrap his head around it.

The woman stopped beside Strucker, her every movement poised. Her face held no expression, her eyes empty and void of life as she stared straight ahead.

"Красный _(Red)_ ," Strucker addressed.

"Я готов отвечать ( _Ready to comply_ )," she spoke.

Baron nodded at Alexander.

"Retrieve the Tesseract," Pierce ordered. "Eliminate anyone who gets in your way."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So I have no idea why in the hell it took me so long to get into The Avengers series, but I binge watched all the movies last week and I'm completely obsessed. Ergo, a new story! I'm super excited for this because I haven't written anything like it before.

I picture Claire Holt as Vivian!

I hope you enjoy _Red_ and let me know if you're interested in reading :)


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